In The New York Times, political science professor Alexander Cooley weighs in on the 10th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an association among China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. An expert from the article:

"Alexander Cooley, a political science professor at Barnard College in New York, said the Shanghai organization had been a major Chinese foreign policy success.

China has helped define the group’s priorities without seeming to dominate an area that Russia has traditionally seen as its own.

“It’s the Chinese vehicle,” Mr. Cooley said. “It’s incredibly important for them that it’s seen as a multilateral framework.”"

Cooley is Associate Professor of Political Science at Barnard and a Faculty Member of Columbia’s Harriman Institute. His research examines how external actors– including international organizations, aid donors, multinational companies, non-governmental organizations, and foreign military bases – have influenced the political and economic development of the former Soviet states, with a focus on Central Asia and the Caucasus.